Water Cycle: Ocean Deep

Monday, November 24, 2014

Difference between the salt water and fresh water
Discovering the properties of salt water
Looking into Oceans, Sea and Lakes

Salt Water vs.. Fresh Water

Majority of the Earth’s water is in the oceans but the water here is not pure. Ocean water contains components and elements that have been dissolved in the water through time (water eroded the Earth’s surface).

From here, I started to discussing why water in the ocean is called salty water and those in the lakes are called fresh water. Note that the term “fresh water” can be misunderstood. Water in the ocean is not good for humans as it is salty. Too much salt in our body is not good because the body cannot take it out. Same thing as water in the lake, though it may be called “fresh” or may look clear, it may still have something in it that can be dangerous to our body.

Seen below is our “salty” water mixture. It’s made up of clean warm water, plenty of salt and a blue food colouring for the ocean effect.

Create a salty water mixture as mentioned above and let them taste the salty water and the freshwater for comparison.

Properties of Salt Water (Ocean)

Around 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by seawater (water, salt, and other substances and gases). Seawater is more dense, meaning if you mix salt and fresh water without mixing, the salt water will stay UNDER the fresh water. Other amazing facts about sea water includes:

Easier to swim in salt water because it helps to keep our bodies higher in the water.
It needs more heat to boil and more cold to freeze

To demonstrate this, we conducted a few experiments to see first hand the properties of salt water and fresh water. Click on the image below to see our experiments!

Investigating Oceans, Sea and Lakes

Using our printed and painted map, we identified four major ocean bodies: Indian Ocean, Atlantic ocean, Pacific Ocean and Arctic ocean.

Also, we revisited our study of organisms that live in salt water and the fresh water and a refresher of our landforms (an island is part of the Earth, it doesn’t float in the water LOL).

Animals in the freshwater ecosystem: lakes, ponds and streams. Animals in the marine ecosystem which includes the seashore, temperate and tropical oceans.